Victoria is going to pay for what she’s done. I’m going to make sure of it.
If all this is true, and I really am an heir … then when I get back to Hawthorne Academy, there truly will be nothing she can do to stop me.
Chapter 4
In just the course of a few short hours, everything has changed.
I’ve gone from a destitute orphan to a wealthy heiress. It should be a fairytale … but all I can think of now is how much easier it’ll be to get my revenge.
“Come and see us soon. We want to be an active part of your life.”
Dane looks at me intently from where he’s standing in the doorway to the massive estate, looking out, and I nod.
“Sure. I’d like that,” I answer, not entirely sure if I will like it or not. He grunts a little and nods. We stand awkwardly, me on the front steps waiting for Eli to pull the car back around to the front of the house. They offered for me to stay the night, but I’m not sure I could stand a whole night waiting around in that empty mausoleum of a house.
We both look relieved as soon as we spot the car crunching up the gravel towards us.
Dane scratches the back of his neck. “I’m not going to pretend this whole situation isn’t utterly outrageous,” he says. “Two years ago, hell, one year ago I would never have imagined …” he looks me over again, and somehow, the skeptical look on his face breaks that awkward tension that’s been hanging between us since we met again this morning.
I breathe out a long sigh. “I know,” I say. “Me either.”
The car pulls to a stop at the base of the stairs, and Eli leans over while he rolls down the window.
“All aboard for Hawthorne Express?”
Even Dane rolls his eyes. Maybe we’ll learn to get along, he and I.
Either way, all I know as the car rolls out of the huge iron gates is that my entire life has just changed forever.
Eli drops me at the school after a long and quiet car ride. As he pulls up, I reach for the door handle and he looks over at me.
“Are you okay?” He looks genuinely concerned. There haven’t been that many adults in my life who were genuinely concerned if I’m all right or not, so it’s a welcome, if unusual, sight.
“I guess so,” I start, about to brush off his concern when suddenly, I change my mind. “Or, I guess not. I don’t know. I just lost a father I never knew I had, and it sucks, learning that he wanted me in his life. I have all this money now, but I’d give it all up just to have a chance to get to know him.” I can feel a knot forming in my throat.
What a spoiled brat thing to say, I know. The money … it should be what I’m focusing on, but it’s not. Somehow, for the first time, that greedy street urchin in me is silent.
Eli reaches a compassionate hand up to my shoulder. “I wish it had worked out differently. I really do. I was so excited to tell him about you, to see him light up like a kid on Christmas morning. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to know him, but from his side, it was the best thing that had ever happened to him.”
I swallow hard, forcing the rising emotion back down in me. “Thank you for doing everything that you did. I might not have been able to meet him, but what you did changed my life forever. Now I at least some family. It changes everything for me.”
He nods and smiles. “I was glad to do it. Listen, if you need anything, you give me a call. Here’s my number. Call anytime. Your dad was one of my best friends. I’m glad to help you with whatever I can.”
I take the card he gives me and tuck it into my back pocket. I can’t believe this is my life now. I always thought money would change everything. I know, eventually, it will. For now, however, everything just feels like a distorted version of the same.
“Thank you, I appreciate this, and all that you’ve done.”
I leave the car and head into the school, feeling as if I’m not myself at all anymore; like I’m somebody else who’s replaced who I used to be.
I head up the hill wishing so much that Dana could be there, in our room, waiting to talk with me. She should be here, but she won’t be out of the hospital and back to school for a long while. That is, of course, if her parents even let her come back at all.
When I walk into the building, my mind is swirling with emotion and thoughts. I’m so caught up in what’s going on in my head that I don’t realize it at first, but as I’m climbing the stairs, everyone I pass is staring at me. I straighten my clothes and look away from them, wondering what the big deal is.
They stared when they found out that I was lying about being Sadie White, before they all decided to ignore me instead, and now they’re doing it again. I’m being stared at like I’m an alien, and I don’t know why, and to be honest, I don’t really care why. All I want is my room and my bed. It’s been one of the worst and strangest days of my life.
I need time to process.
I get to my room and close the door. I glance in the full-length mirror on the back of it and take a look at myself. I look fine. Not a hair out of place.